My new hobby! For a while I was pretty skeptical about couponing. I guess it comes about with a negative connotation for some reason. I used to think it was something desperate people did or those without a life. Haha! Boy, was I wrong! It started off with me Facebook snooping on one of my friends' photo albums entitled "Spending Frugally to Live Freely". I saw she was getting stuff that should be $120 for only about $8. This definitely sparked my interest! I began to ask her questions about it all. It still seemed so far fetched to me. A few weekends ago, I was spending the night with my best friend Angela in Birmingham. We landed our channel surfing on TLC (my favorite) and an Extreme Couponing show was on! We stayed up late watching these ladies (and one gentleman) score the biggest deals we've ever seen! These people were buying $2,000 worth of stuff and only paying around $100 OR LESS! It was insane! Now, granted, some of these people have probably taken it a little to far, BUT it really struck a cord in me! I got up with the friend on Facebook and she actually took me shopping with her. I observed her moves as one might observe a sensei. She is a genius at these deals! She taught me all kinds of stuff about combining manufacturer coupons with store coupons and sales. She ended up walking out with $75 worth of stuff and only paying $4! I was inspired! I ended up walking out with about $32 worth of stuff and paying $13. Not bad for my first trip--I don't have any items stocked up yet so I was in dire need of some essentials. This is not worthy of a Facebook album yet, but I thought I'd include a pic of my first trip at least on here:
I can't wait for my next shopping deal! I'm sick right now, so I am waiting until I'm well enough to go again. Here are a few tips if you want to get on this coupon wagon: 1. Buy at least 2 papers every Sunday--the ones with the best coupons...in my area this is the Birmingham paper...it has better deals than Montgomery usually. Also, keep your eyes out for "blinkies", "tearpads", "hangtags", and other coupons hiding about. 2. Stash your coupons in a way that is best for you...I said I would not have a coupon binder but that ended up to be the best organizational way for my perfectionist mind. 3.Pick up on the coupon lingo! Look up sites to introduce you into this crazy world of couponing!
Couponing101,
KrazyCouponLady, or any other good intro to couponing sites you find in Google. 4. Pick a store! Don't overwhelm yourself with a million stores and a million deals! My Facebook friend said choose Publix. They double coupons and allow overage. 5. Follow blogs and sites that match sales with your coupons! They do it for you!
IheartPublix.com is an awesome one for Publix! The tab at the top titled "Weekly Ads" is what matches coupons with store ads for the week. The tab that is titled "Adv. Buy Flyers" matches store sales, manufacturer coupons, and Publix coupons. Most Publix's give out these flyers every month. There is no limit on how many you can get although some stores are stingy and you have to keep going back. My Publix calls these the "green and yellow flyer" and they are kept behind the customer service counter... some Publix's stack them out in the front of the store free for the taking. 6. Brush up on your math skills! :) Figure out how the coupons and store sales work. For example if Chicken Viola is BOGO (buy one get one free) and is regularly $6, then technically you are getting them each for $3. If you have two $3 coupons for Viola then you get the 2 for free! Do the math! Many of the blogs break these things down for you and many stores have coupon polices that can explain things for you.
AddictedtoSaving.com is also a good blog. (Scroll down and to the right there are Categories of different stores. Click on a store for their breakdown.) That is mostly all I have learned so far. I will keep you updated on my journey! Let me know if you have any questions! I can at least try to direct you to the right path! :)
